splitting a 5 gallon batch between 2 mr beer little brown kegs?

General Homebrew Discussion
1

I’m considering making a 5 gallon batch and splitting it between 2 little brown kegs by overfilling them slightly, I’m very new to homebrewing and have a few questions.  Instead of trying to get the yeast re hydrated and split in to 2 equal parts, could I just buy an extra packet of yeast and put a whole one in each keg? Another thing, when I bottle, would it be ok to mix them both in bottling bucket and bottle from there or should I bottle them one at a time?

Thanks for your time and help,

newbie

2

A full pack of dry yeast won’t hurt really. Especially if you are brewing a bigger beer. If you are using the 11 gram packets, you could consider skipping the rehydrating an just eyeball the dry yeast right on top.

You could blend the two at bottling without issue. Just try to avoid overhandling the finished beer.

3

Alrighty that’s what I needed to know.

Thank you

4

Maybe get a digital gram scale for like $10. You’ll use it in brewing forever

5

I don’t know why I didn’t think about that. I have a food scale but I knew the increments would be too big.
I think I will pick one of those up as well.

Thanks

6

I have a digital good to 10 lbs. But when I started doing water additions I got a little 100 gram scale too. Comes in handy with small hop additions

7

I started off with a food scale and I still use it to measure grain but eventually I picked up a digital gram scale. Well worth the $10 or whatever I paid on Amazon for it. Jim is right, eventually you’ll want that level of precise measurement.

That said, if you do not get a perfect 50/50 split of yeast it would not be the end of the world. I would be more concerned that you are overfilling those fermentors. You’ll definitely lose a good chunk of beer to blowoff and if you aren’t careful you’ll also blow off the lid.

8

Well I just won some money on a super bowl bet so I can order a couple carboys.
Thanks for the help though!

9

I’m a big fan of the better bottles. You can get them in 3 and 5 gallon. If you do 2.5 gallon batches like me, the 3 gallon leaves a good amount of krausen headspace.

As for the dry yeast, definitely a gram scale. What I do is get my pitch amounts from mr malty and then I spray the yeast pack with sanitizer, cut it open then put it on the scale. You know you have about 11 grams in the pack so zero out the scale at this point then sprinkle a bit and weight it again until you have reached your pitch amount, essentially weighing the amount that is left in the pack.  The weight should read as a negative since you are making the pack lighter.  It has worked flawlessly in helping me pitch a precise amount.
Hope this helps

10

order buckets instead. they are cheaper and much much easier to clean.